Air fitting for closed containers



March 5, 1963 K. OTTUNG 39 5 AIR FITTING FOR CLOSED CONTAINERS Filed Sept. 26, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTbR Ka/ OZZa/Iy BY VWW ATTORNEYS March 5, 1963 K. OTTUNG 3,079,945

AIR FITTING FOR CLOSED CONTAINERS Filed Sept. 26, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INV EN TOR Aa/ Ulla/7y BY VM ATTORNEYS This invention relates to an air fitting for closed containers, especially storagetanks for beer.

it is known to provide such containers with various air fittings, e.g. a pressure safety valve, a bunging apparatus which will ensure that a sufiicient portion of the carbon-dioxide generated during the fermentation will remain in the beer, a vacuum safety valve and a cock or faucet which is opened when the container is to be emptied, and through which there may be supplied pressurised air of an appropriate pressure.

Until now the storage tanks or containers have generally been provided with a cruciform fitting which is connected through a non-closable ducting to a socket at the highest point of the closed container. Such cruciform fitting is a distributor member having etween two and four branches which may be or may not be provided with stop-cocks, and the above mentioned fittings are connected to said branches through hoses or tubes. This is a complicated arrangement which i.e. involves several possibilities of faulty operation.

It is an object of the present invention to remedy these inconveniences.

An air fitting for closed containers, especially storage tanks for beer, according to the invention consists of a cruciform housing in which the following valves are mounted: a weight loaded pressure valve which serves in part as a bunging apparatus in part as a safety valve against excess positive pressure in the container; a vacuum valve which serves as a safety valve against excess negative pressure in the container; and a non-return valve allowing the inflow of pressurised air for the emptying the the container.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description in which reference is had to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the invention in vertical section; and

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the device shown in FIG. 1.

The air fitting shown in the drawings comprises a housing 1 having an upwardly extending branch 2, a downwardly extending branch 3 and two horizontal, mutually aligned branches 4 and 5. In the branch 2 there is located a valve seat 6 for a pressure valve member 7, and the valve seat 6 is clamped against the housing 1 by means of a union nut 8. An -seal 9 is interposed between the valve seat 6 and the housing 1. A short cylindrical glass tube 10 is provided in the upper portion of the valve seat 6 and sealed by means of an (Ia-seal 11. The valve member 7 is pressed against the valve seat 6 by means of weights 12a, 11 and c, which are suspended on a hoop 13. The hoop 13 is held in engagement with a cavity in the valve member 7 lying on a lower level than the valve seat surface, and the hoop 13 is shaped so that the weights 12 are located substantially vertically below the center of the valve seat surface externally of the housing 1.

In the depending branch 3 of the housing there is provided a light valve member 14 which engages a valve seat surface on the inner side of the housing 1.

A connection nipple 15 is held against the end face of the branch 4 by means of a union nut 16, and an O-seal 17 is interposed between the nipple 15 and the face of the branch 4. The nipple 15 serves for connect- 2 ing the fitting to the container, not shown, with which the fitting as associated.

In the branch 5 there is provided a valve member 18 which in a similar way the valve member 14 cooperates with a valve seat surface on the internal wall of the housing 1. The branch 5 is closed against the surroundings by means of a screw cap 19.

A mounting member 20 which is threaded at both ends, serves for securing the housing 1 to a wall 21, and the mounting member 20 is provided with a bore 22 through which the hoop 13 extends. It might also be possible to secure the housing 1 to the wall of the container or tank in question.

When the fitting shown in the drawings is connected to a beer storage tank through the nipple 15, the pressure valve 6, 7 will serve as bunging apparatus during the fermentation, the weight load 12 being chosen so as to maintain a pre-determined super pressure in the storage tank. The glass tube ll is partially filled with water so that carbon dioxide which may escape due to any excess pressure in the tank may bubble through the water. The super pressure in the tank keeps the valve members 14 and 18 against their seats. When after the fermentation the tank is to be emptied the screw cap 19 will have to be unscrewed, and a hose leading to a pressurised air source will be screwed on the branch 5. When the screw cap 19 is removed the valve member 18 serves as a non-return valve preventing the escape of carbondioxide. Before the emptying of the tank starts further weights 12 are added so that the valve 7 is maintained closed against the increased emptying pressure.

If through a mistake the removal of the screw cap 19 and the connection of a pressurised air source is forgotten, pumping away of the beer from the tank might create a dangerous vacuum within the tank. In this case, however, the vacuum safety valve 14 comes into function and prevent the creation of a vacuum which might lead to the collapsing of the tank.

Thus, it is ensured that under any working conditions faulty operation of the apparatus is impossible. The arrangement of the hoop 13 and the weights 12 facilitates the adaptation of the opening pressure of the valve member 7 to the prevailing conditions. By the mounting of the valve member 14 below the valve member 7 it is obtained that if the pressure valve should fail to operate the valve member 7 may be lifted manually through the valve member 14. As the width of the valve seat surfaces is narrow compared with the valve surface there is only a very small risk that any valve member may bind or stick. The valve member 6 which extends deeply into the housing 1 serves as an impact for the valve member 18 preventing that this latter valve member may unintentionally drop from its seat. When the valve members are arranged in aligned branches as shown the cleaning of the fitting is very simple and rapidly carried out. The center of gravity of the weights 12 is located below the seat of the valve member 7, and the hoop 13 engages a cavity of the valve member lying below the seat, so that any tilting of the valve member 7 is effectively prevented. Therefore the operation of the valve is highly reliable.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment shown and described, and several modifications may be carried out within the scope of the invention.

I claim:

An air fitting for beer storage tanks and the like closed containers, comprising a cruciform housing having a central portion, two vertical branches extending upwardly and downwardly respectively from said central portion, and two horizontal branches extending symmetrically in opposite directions from said central portion, a valve seat member detachably secured to said upwardly 3 extending branch and projecting into said central portion of said housing substantially to the center line of said horizontal branches, a conical valve seat face internally of said valve seat member, a first valve member mounted in said valve seat member and having a conical seat face cooperating with said valve seat face of said valve seat member to form therewith a pressure relief valve, a cv-shaped hoop having ends, one of said ends engaging. an upper surface of said first valve member, the other of said. ends of said hoop being shaped to accommodate exchangeable weighted members, a second valve member mounted in said downwardly extending branch and having a conical seat face, a conical valve seat face internally of said housing cooperating with said seat face of said second valve'member to form therewith a'vacuumrelief valve, a third valve member mounted in one of said horizontal branches and having a conical seat face, a conical valve seat face internally of said housing cooperating with said seat face of said third valve member to form therewith an air inlet check valve, and means for detachably securing a tube connecting member to the other of said horizontal branches.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 351,358 Carroll a Oct. 26, 1886 694,286 Kenney Feb. 25, 1902 1,093,722 Osbourn Apr. 21, 1914 1,620,720 Buck Mar. 15, 1927 1,655,418 Haight Jan. 10, 1928 1,890,870 Tokheim' e Dec. 13, 1932 1,918,337 I'ones"- July 18, 1933 2,660,343 Char-piat Nov. 24, 1953 Poethiget'al Nov. 19, 1957 

